White to Play
White to Play is the second episode of season one of FlashForward. It first aired on October 1, 2009. Mark and Demetri head to Pigeon, Utah to track down a man who may be connected to the global blackout, while Olivia comes face-to-face with the man from her vision, and Mark and Olivia's daughter, Charlie, has trouble coping with the aftermath of her flashforward. Summary Charlie's School A group of school children are lying on the ground outside of school, unmoving as an ominous-sounding chorus of "Ring Around the Rosie" is heard. An unidentified person is conscious and is watching the children. The perspective changes and the unidentified person is revealed to be Charlie Benford, who is clutching a stuffed animal toy and, obviously uncomfortable, is staring at the children. A young boy jumps up, declares "time's up" and the rest of the children jump up as well, immediately asking one another what they saw. The first boy asks Charlie what she saw as the rest of the children approach her. She says she didn't want to play the Blackout game, and the children confront her for not playing along. The boy begins to pull at her toy, tearing off its arm. Charlie pushes the boy down angrily and takes back the arm. An adult, presumably a teacher of some sort, sees her and berates her, but Charlie runs away down the street as the woman chases her. She crosses an intersection, narrowly avoiding a collision with a car, and comes to a halt at a military blockade. Meetings At a meeting at the Los Angeles Field Office, Stan Wedeck announces that six agents from the field office had resigned that morning bringing the total resignations to eighteen. He reminds his staff that they are confused as everyone, but that they have a responsibility. He is interrupted by a woman who applauds and comments that the speech was worth the flight on a military aircraft and that she had heard that there was a field office that had taken it upon themselves to investigate the GBO. Mark comments that if anyone else is better positioned to investigate, he will be glad to send them the case file. Wedeck introduces the woman as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Anastasia Markham. Mark's cell phone rings and he leaves, explaining that there is a problem at his daughter Charlie's school. Mark Benford and Aaron Stark are sitting in a support group meeting while an apparently intoxicated man speaks about his difficulty dealing with his vision. Mark interrupts him, telling him to leave and spare them whatever he has to say. As him and Aaron leave, he says he's been dealing with stuff of his own. Aaron reminds him everyone is dealing with the same thing, just in different ways. Mark heads to work but is soon called to Charlie's school where he meets with Olivia and Principal Byrne, who expresses concern with Charlie's unwillingness to discuss her vision. After, Mark and Olivia discuss the situation, coming to the conclusion that Charlie may have seen the man in Olivia's vision. They decide to try as hard as possible to be strong for one another and for Charlie, and somewhat relaxed they return to their old custom of telling each other sarcastic jokes about their relationship. At the FBI field office, Janis Hawk is explaining The Mosaic Collective to Anastasia Markham, mentioning the site has had 600,000 story submissions in the past 17 hours. Anastasia expresses doubt and skepticism regarding the legitimacy of the Mosaic Investigation, but her demeanor changes when she sees the security video of Suspect Zero, who they have determined is a man based on video forensics and probability. Olivia brings Charlie and her toy to the hospital with her, telling Bryce Varley that the babysitter is nowhere to be found. After speaking briefly with Bryce, Olivia brings the toy to an empty room and begins to suture it. As she is working, Lloyd Simcoe approaches her to confront her about "avoiding" his son and thank her for saving his life. Lloyd reveals he knows very little about his son and asks Olivia to answer some questions. She nervously deflects, sending him to Bryce. Back at the FBI field office, Demetri Noh argues with Mark regarding the friendship bracelet he is wearing, accusing that if he wears it then he wants the future to happen. Mark expresses that he doesn't, then tries to change the subject by entering his office and asking Demetri about the progress on the Mosaic Investigation. Janis interrupts them, announcing that "D. Gibbons" is here to see Demetri. Janis, Mark, Demetri and Stan Wedeck meet in Mark's office and ask their visitor, a woman named Didi Gibbons, about her vision, in which she is talking about Mark and Demetri. After, Mark confronts Stan about his vision, and Stan reveals that he was on the toilet during the vision as well as when blackout occurred. He mentions he saw a man drowning in a urinal when he woke up and gave him mouth to mouth, then threatens an obviously amused Mark to transfer him if he should tell anyone. Olivia and Charlie are leaving the hospital when they approach the room with the Simcoe family. Olivia asks is she recognizes Lloyd, and she says she does not. However, when Charlie sees Dylan Simcoe, she freaks out and screams, asking who hurt him. She tells Olivia that Dylan was in her vision, but when pressed for more information she mumbles hysterically about Dylan instead of answering. Pigeon, Utah Olivia meets Mark at his work to tell him about her eventful day. They argue about Lloyd and Mark expresses concern about her vision. They are interrupted by Demetri, who says that a fake mirror credit card with Didi Gibbons' name just bought a bus ticket in Utah. Mark and Demetri board a helicopter to Pigeon, Utah where they meet with Sheriff Keegan, who mentions that she didn't have a vision during the GBO. .]] The FBI and the Pigeon Sheriff department stake out the local bus station, hoping to be able to catch who ever had cloned Didi's credit card, believing he or she might be the right "D. Gibbons". However, no one arrives to pick up the bus ticket, and as they decide to call off the stakeout, Demetri questions the validity of Mark's vision. As they are about to leave the scene, they spot an abandoned factory owned by a now-defunct doll company, which Mark connects with a photograph he saw in his vision. They break in and see a shadow moving on the second floor. As they approach Mark sets off a booby trap which plays "Ring Around the Rosie" and causes some of the hanging dolls to bounce around. They bust into the door containing a shadow. They find a man holding an two open Zippo lighters, surrounded by computer equipment in glass cases filled with a liquid, including a computer with an active chess game on-screen. He recites a quote by Beilby Porteus (see Trivia section) and drops the lighters into two of the glass cases and they erupt in flames. Shots are fired in both directions and Sheriff Keegan is shot in the chest and killed. The man escapes and releases a cluster of grenades into the fire, setting off a massive explosion. In the aftermath, investigators find a cell phone and a white queen chess piece. They guess that whoever the man was, he was doing heavy duty computer hacking, connecting him with several hacking attempts including an attempt to hack the Mosaic Collective website. Demetri suggests he may have been investigating why this was happening as well. Los Angeles In Los Angeles, Olivia is leaving the hospital when she sees Lloyd brooding over a cup of coffee. He is nervous about talking to his son and assuming his role as his son's only parent. Olivia advises Lloyd to simply tell Dylan that he loves him. Lloyd accepts her advice and confronts his son, who seems to understand his mother's disappearance. To Lloyd's surprise and confusion, Dylan asks to see Olivia. Demetri is called into the FBI field office at 3 AM and finds Anastasia, Stan and Janis with information: the cell phone Mark and Demetri found at the doll factory made a phone call during the blackout to someone at the baseball stadium where Suspect Zero was, and they assume the call was made to Suspect Zero. Later on, Demetri and Janis browse the now 900,000 postings on the Mosaic Collective website. After Didi Gibbons stops by with a box of cupcakes, they decide to submit their own stories. As Demetri is leaving, he gets an anonymous phone call from a woman who claims she saw in an intelligence briefing in her vision that Demetri will be killed on March 15th, 2010. At the Benford household, Mark is sipping ginger ale and staring at a fire in the fireplace, obviously troubled. Olivia sits next to him and they talk, seeming to be in a better mood towards one another. She asks why he made a fire, and we see Charlie's friendship bracelet on a log as he says he started it for no reason. Later, Mark checks on Charlie, who is awake. She tells him she was bad at school because she is scared about what she saw in her vision. Mark asks her what she saw, and she replies that "D. Gibbons is a bad man". Trivia Cultural References * Twitter: FBI director Stan Wedeck threatened agent Mark Bedford to transfer him if he revealed the details of Stan's flash on Twitter, the micro-blogging service. * Beilby Porteus: The Chess Player recited a quote by Beilby Porteus, which goes "He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over." Beilby Porteus (1731-1809) was an Anglican Archbishop from England who is best known to have been a leading abolitionist. Literary Techniques * Mark is noticeably darker in this episode compared to the previous, possibly the beginning of a spiral to the state of mind in his vision which led him to drink. Unanswered Questions Flashes * Who phoned Lloyd Simcoe in his flash? * What did Charlie experience in her flash, that had her so upset? The Chess Player * Who is the Chess Player? * What was the purpose for the Bank Vault Monitor at Divine Doll Company? * What was the Chess Player's reasons for quoting Porteus? * What did the Chess Player call Suspect Zero about during the GBO? * What is the meaning of the chess moves next the the chess-board? * What reasons did the Chess Player have to rig flammable liquid and grenades by his computers? * What - if any - is the connection between the Chess Player and "D. Gibbons"? * Were there other people, besides Suspect Zero and the Chess Player that didn't blackout? Other * Who is the woman who tells Demetri that he will be killed? * Why is Dylan so eager to see Olivia? * Where is Nicole? Category:Aaron Stark Episodes Category:Bryce Varley Episodes Category:Demetri Noh Episodes Category:Janis Hawk Episodes Category:Lloyd Simcoe Episodes Category:Mark Benford Episodes Category:Olivia Benford Episodes Category:Stanford Wedeck Episodes